Over the past few decades, much more attention has been paid to ergonomics, kinesthetics, and other endeavors to tailor human environments to better suit people's bodies and how their bodies move. Such efforts are motivated by desires to make people more comfortable, reduce pain resulting from unnatural positions and movements, and, not the least of which, to improve performance.
One particular area in which tremendous investments and advances have been made in athletic footwear. Only a few decades ago, state-of-the-art basketball shoes had flat rubber bottoms and a flat, canvas high-topped upper. In that same time frame, few people had heard of, let alone owned, a pair of “running shoes.” Certainly, no one had ever heard the term “cross-trainer.” However, today the benefits of exercise are both better understood and better appreciated. Similarly, it is now understood how appropriate footwear not only can enhance athletic performance, improve foot comfort, and reduce foot pain, but it is also appreciated that appropriate footwear can prevent knee injuries, alleviate back pain, and yield countless other benefits.
Greater strides have been made with footwear with soft uppers. A shoe with a soft upper can stretch to conform to a wearer's foot to provide appropriate fit and support. A soft upper also facilitates “proprioception,” which allows the wearer to take advantage of the unconscious perception of movement and spatial orientation gained from stimuli of the footwear appropriately contacting surfaces of the wearer's foot.
On the other hand, advances have not been made as rapidly in the case of more rigidly-shelled athletic wear such as ski boots and skates. Ski boots and skates tend to have semi-rigid or rigid outer shells to securely receive the feet and ankles of the wearer to better translate the wearer's movements to the wearer's skis and skates, respectively. Similarly, protective work boots may include semi-rigid or rigid uppers to protect a worker's feet, or at least may include a semi-rigid or rigid toebox to protect a worker's toes. In the case of hockey skates, a certain rigidity of the upper is desired to protect the foot of the wearer from contact injuries that may be inflicted by sticks, pucks, other players' skates, and other objects. Unlike soft-uppered footwear which can allow a degree of plasticity on the sides and in the toe to accommodate different dimensions of wearers' feet, footwear having a semi-rigid or rigid upper or toebox generally tends to accommodate a largest range of foot dimensions for a given size. Certainly, few could or would tolerate a ski boot or skate having a semi-rigid or rigid shell continually pressing against, for example, the front or top of his or her toes. Such a fit also could increase the potential exposure of the wearer to toe contact injuries. As a result, there tends to be some open space left around the sides and/or the toes of at least some wearers' feet in footwear having a semi-rigid or rigid upper or toebox.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional footwear item 100 having a semi-rigid or rigid upper 110 joined to a sole 120 being worn on a foot 130 and ankle 140 of a wearer. It is desired for comfort and control that a heel 150 of the foot 130 fits securely in a heel portion 160 of the footwear 100. By contrast, toes 170 of the wearer are accommodated loosely in a toebox 180 of the footwear 100. Loose fitting of the toebox 180 allows the wearer to move his or her toes to allow for movement, balance, and other control without pressing against the toes 170 of the wearer which could be uncomfortable or injurious to the wearer.
Such open space in such footwear may be unfortunate. Body heat can be lost to the open space, leaving the wearer cold and uncomfortable. Similarly, with the wearer's foot not engaging the inside of the footwear, synergistic benefits of the contact of the foot with the footwear is lost.
Thus, there is an unmet need in the art for footwear with semi-rigid or rigid uppers or toeboxes to engage the foot of the wearer to provide comfort and other sensate benefits.